whelk meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

whelk

noun

/wɛlk/ · /hwɛlk

Etymology From Middle English whelke, a variant of welk, from Old English weoloc, wiloc, wioloc, weluc, from Proto-West Germanic *weluk (compare Middle Dutch willoc, Dutch wulk), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, revolve”) (whence vulva and volute). Unetymological spelling with wh- from the 15th century.

Certain edible sea snails, especially, any one of numerous species of large marine gastropods belonging to Buccinidae, much used as food in Europe.

Synonyms: scungilli
Derived terms: Asian rapa whelk, dog whelk, knobbed whelk, veined rapa whelk, whelker, whelk stall, whelky

whelk

noun

Etymology From Middle English whelke, from Old English hwelca (“pustule, swelling”).

Archaic Pimple.

his face is all bubukles , and whelks , and knobs1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

A stripe or mark; a ridge; a wale.

Derived terms: chin whelk, whelky